Convention Yearbook 2017_LoRes

Alabama Grocers Association 2017 Annual Convention

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

their dedication on working with the ABC Board to ensure our best interest during the negotiations. We had another successful year raising money at the Alabama’s Food Industry Finest thanks to Harold Garrett and his committee. Through the efforts of this Committee, last year’s event raised over $40,000 for the Association’s SACK PAC. We will continue this event and hopefully by the next election cycle have over $200,000 to contribute to elected official campaigns. Mr. Jay Mitchell, Chairman of the Education, Benefits, and Services Committee has worked very hard to award $60,000 in scholarships this year to many well deserving students who are striving to further their education. We have awarded over a million dollars in scholarships since 1992! The two golf outings this year had a profit of over $60,000. Thank you to all our members for their monetary donations and for participating in the Golf Outings & Silent Auction. Please continue to support these worthwhile events for our children’s future. Great job to Jay and his hardworking committee! In closing, our Association is very blessed to continue standing strong on its mission to promote and support the growth and success of the food industry in the state of Alabama through advocacy, education, public relations and networking. This would not be possible without the hard work of our Association President, Ellie Taylor, who is on the forefront every day fighting for our industry. Many thanks to the entire Association Staff for their many hours of hard work and dedication to make our Association and this convention great. I have enjoyed serving as your Chairman and hope that everyone enjoys this year’s convention.

Welcome to the 2017 Alabama Grocers Association Convention. As your Chairman, I am excited to welcome everyone back to beautiful Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort for our 27th Annual Convention. On behalf of the Officers and Directors, thank you to the members and partners for their hard work and support in making this year’s convention another successful event.

Peter V. Gregerson, Jr. Gregerson’ s Foods

Our Convention Chairman this year is Mr. Keith Lusk. Keith and his dedicated committee have put together a great Business Session for Tuesday morning and have planned some exciting nights of entertainment. Monday night Casino Night will be a blast with some great prizes. At the end of the night, you will be able to exchange your winnings for raffle tickets which you can then use to win prizes. Also on Monday night we will have our annual Silent Auction during the evening running along with the casino activities. Silent Auction Chairman, Mr. Johnny Collins, and his committee have a great selection of items to place your bids. Please be sure to stop by the registration desk and sign up for Mobile Bidding! Al Del Greco, football great at Auburn University and Radio Personality, will be our speaker for the Tuesday night Chairman’s Banquet. Please remember this year Tuesday night will be “Wear Your Team Colors” night. Mr. David Bullard, our Membership Committee Chairman, and his committee are right on target to add 54 new members to our association which will give us over 350 members. May I say, “Great job” to David and his committee. They have worked incredibly hard this year to push us over the 350 mark! Mr. Wade Payne, Legislature Chairman, and his committee have done an excellent job on key issues passed affecting the industry. With the effort of the Legislative Committee and the Association staff, we were able to finally pass ABC Regulations to allow off-premise locations to sample beer and wine in their stores starting August 5th. This was a huge win for our Association this year and a special thanks goes to Mr. Pat McWhorter our legislative consultant, and AGA President Ellie Taylor for

Sincerely,

ZÜxz Peter V. Gregerson, Jr. Association Chairman 2015-2017

2017 Convention Annual | Page 7